Mountain Lion does not load after MultiBeast install

[wildwillow]

Wild Willow...

Well, I need your help again. I purchased SuperDuper and created 2 external usb clones of my Hack HD. The first was to an HDD which took over 4 hours to make. I purchased another SSD and made a clone using that in a blazing time of 15 minutes using the usb3.

Now for the problem. I saw a security update so I downloaded it to my Hack. Shouldn't have done that because now my mouse freezes for minutes on end before eventually unfreezing. This happened immediately after the security update. I decided that it was a good time to restore using the HD clone I had made. I tried to activate SuperDuper but could not highlight the Hack HD because it was the boot device. After asking SuperDuper support about this I was told to boot from the clone SSD and then use disk utility to restore the Hack HD.

I've been trying to boot from the external SSD clone by holding down the option key when rebooting but I get no boot selection page. Instead, it ignores that key command and goes straight to the Hack HD. I tried holding down the f12 key on boot and it ignores that not allowing me into bios. Tried it again and on the Gigabyte window I hit any key for boot options and it goes straight to Hack HD. I've gone to system preferences and highlighted the external SSD clone as the start up drive and restarted. I believed that command was ignored. I don't know if this is a result of the security update but I am frustrated at every turn in my attempts to restore the Hack HD.

I even pulled the Hack HD and replaced it with the SSD clone internally. For some reason it did not recognize the clone as a bootable drive. I also inserted the Mountain Lion boot stick with no startup options page appearance.

Do you have any suggestions? Please help.

Sukebei

So if you plug in your UniBeast USB, Start the system and press F12, selecting the USB as the boot device it shows no boot menu?

 

[sukebei]

Yes. I just tried it again. Restart pressing f12 key. I do see the Gigabyte page for a moment but it does not enter the boot options page. It instead goes to the mountain lion loading page with the "hit any key to open boot options". I hit keys but it ignores my attempts and goes on to the sign in page.

When I sign in I can see all the drives on my desktop as icons. The Hack HD, the one terabyte HDD, the usb stick as well as the external SSD clone. I'm pretty certain that the boot drive is the Hack HD as the mouse will freeze if I move it too fast.

Sukebei

 

[wildwillow]

Yes. I just tried it again. Restart pressing f12 key. I do see the Gigabyte page for a moment but it does not enter the boot options page. It instead goes to the mountain lion loading page with the "hit any key to open boot options". I hit keys but it ignores my attempts and goes on to the sign in page.

When I sign in I can see all the drives on my desktop as icons. The Hack HD, the one terabyte HDD, the usb stick as well as the external SSD clone. I'm pretty certain that the boot drive is the Hack HD as the mouse will freeze if I move it too fast.

Sukebei

Ok I have two suggestions.

1. If you can get into the BIOS and set Boot Priority to the UniBeast USB, F10 Save and Exit.
2. Shut down your system. Remove the power, leave it until the lights go out. And reset the CMOS either by using the CMOS reset switch on the motherboard if there is one or the reset CMOS jumper pins. (see your motherboard manual for instructions).

Hopefully then you should be able to boot into the BIOS. You will need to reset it to the changes you made and save them.

 

[sukebei]

Couldn't get into bios to begin with so went with option two. Hit the cmos button and restarted. Hit the f12 key and got the Gigabyte bios option page. Says the Bios have been reset with the 3 options of loading the optimized defaults then boot, loading the optimized defaults then reboot and Enter Bios. Sadly, now the cursor is frozen and the first option is highlighted. Tried using the up & down arrow keys to move the highlight but no go. Cannot get into Bios.
Restarted it but the cursor remains frozen. Restarted again without even touching any keys and got the same Bios option page with the frozen cursor. This is driving me nuts.

Sukebei

 

[wildwillow]

Couldn't get into bios to begin with so went with option two. Hit the cmos button and restarted. Hit the f12 key and got the Gigabyte bios option page. Says the Bios have been reset with the 3 options of loading the optimized defaults then boot, loading the optimized defaults then reboot and Enter Bios. Sadly, now the cursor is frozen and the first option is highlighted. Tried using the up & down arrow keys to move the highlight but no go. Cannot get into Bios.
Restarted it but the cursor remains frozen. Restarted again without even touching any keys and got the same Bios option page with the frozen cursor. This is driving me nuts.

Sukebei

Seems as if something has got stuck in the BIOS. Go with Option 2 again and leave it for 5 Mins before restarting, alternatively do you have an option to boot from the backup BIOS, See Manual. There may a switch.

Also disconnect any drives by the Sata ports of the drives which may allow the BIOS to recover.

 

[sukebei]

Ran option 2 again and waited 15 minutes. Still got the same Bios has been reset window with the frozen cursor. Looked at the manual and did not see any mention of back up bios. In the process of trying to get the cursor to work I have been hitting the left button on the mouse. I just noticed that the cursor arrow is on the first option that's highlighted. I realized that clicking on the left button should have activated that option and booting the computer but it did not.

No matter which key I press on restart it just goes to the Bios has been reset page with the frozen cursor. Have I screwed myself by downloading that stupid update?

Sukebei

 

[wildwillow]

Ran option 2 again and waited 15 minutes. Still got the same Bios has been reset window with the frozen cursor. Looked at the manual and did not see any mention of back up bios. In the process of trying to get the cursor to work I have been hitting the left button on the mouse. I just noticed that the cursor arrow is on the first option that's highlighted. I realized that clicking on the left button should have activated that option and booting the computer but it did not.

No matter which key I press on restart it just goes to the Bios has been reset page with the frozen cursor. Have I screwed myself by downloading that stupid update?

Sukebei

Have you disconnected all drives and tried to boot the BIOS? I don't think that the security update would have caused this issue. As I suggested. Disconnect all drives and try entering the BIOS again. Other than resetting I don't have any further suggestions I'm afraid.

 

[sukebei]

WildWillow...

While awaiting your last response, I gave the manual a closer examination and saw that there is a bios back up switch that I can slide over to boot from back up bios. When you mentioned disconnecting the Sata port drives, did you mean that I should disconnect the Sata plugs from the mobo that are linked to the Hack HD and the 1 tb HDD?

Sukebei

 

[wildwillow]

WildWillow...

While awaiting your last response, I gave the manual a closer examination and saw that there is a bios back up switch that I can slide over to boot from back up bios. When you mentioned disconnecting the Sata port drives, did you mean that I should disconnect the Sata plugs from the mobo that are linked to the Hack HD and the 1 tb HDD?

Sukebei

Yes remove all the connected Sata cables from the drives and see if you can get the BIOS to recover.

 

[sukebei]

Okay, have just disconnected both internal drives from mobo as well the external SSD and ML boot stick from the usb ports. I again pressed the CMOS button and will wait the 5 minutes before trying the regular boot again. Decided to hold off on moving the back up bios switch until I give this try a chance.

Fingers crossed that this will work.

Thanks for bearing with me and my stress.

Sukebei